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Lawrence Hall Aug 2017
4,000 More Light Casualties

A group of journalists arrived from Moscow and were told that the Afghan National Army…had taken the ridge. (They) were posing for victory photographs while our soldiers lay in the morgue.

-Svetlana Alexeivich, Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from the Afghanistan War

A touchy old man who never went to war
Now poses with his decorative generals  
In their tailored Ken-and-Barbie battle dress
All prepped for combat in the officers’ clubs

New president, same as old presidents
And generals, awarding each other medals
And promotions for their golden resumes’
For sending not-their-children off to die

While they prosper on defense industry bids,
Afghanistan is the graveyard of our kids

(Shhhhhhhhhh…Don’t disturb Congress; they’re all asleep.)
Afghanistan
A L Davies Oct 2011
loud now but fading
                 in-&-out,
one big long shhhhhhhhhh
taps of water on leaves                                          (the spirea bush)
as they bend more & more.
big cat in a dark porchcorner
yawning. tired but up she gets
for a quick pat.
porchsitting/my cold bare feet in the night.
sounds from out the door
Bryan E StJohn Jan 2018
A fire came and set beside me and I kept it warm as it read a book of shadows to a tree
The wind suggested it could take me anywhere but it blew on by before I could catch a ride and Im stuck here with a dollar and a song with playback on a vinyl 78
The dogma looked at me and smiled and threw me the SUN.. I missed it and it went on bye..and the fire beside me got up and went south..I laughed and cried and my soul inside died for a moment..I took mouth to mouth from a succubus she giggled as she flew on bye..everything flew on bye
Inside everyone hates..we all drown in the marsh of ugliness and we strive to hide in our pockets that thing for no one to see
SHHHHHHHHHH in the corner and stacked upon high my spirit lifted up and it flew on bye..the wayside beside the back of my soul..somewhere the fire keeps me warm
Could it have been her name...
...so much peace it would drive a man insane
Right in the midst of it all I found her like diamonds in the dirt...
...like she was my first, the lady who let me sleep on her breast
She was cruel enough to be a killer yet my lover...
...so cold she could freeze my heart but kept me warmer
If red is the color of love then stab me straight to the heart...
...let that blood spill all over & tell them all that I drowned in-love
Some will die & some will grow wrinkled & grey...
...some will never even remember the very day
Where Love hit them in SILENCE and left them silent...
...I swear to God that, that is the only pain my soul will bare
The only memory my mind will have...
...if I were to die before this love despairs

Shhhhhhhhhh...!!! SILENCE is what I need to remember her verse
The words she uttered with fear hence she meant
Shhhhhhhhhh...!!! SILENCE is what I need when I take my last breath

— The End —